If you could collaborate with any artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Tough choice but I’ll say Paul McCartney, circa 1967, just because I’d love to be involved with a song that had a complex and memorable melody, like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Yesterday,” “Here There, and Everywhere” or the dozens of other incredibly catchy and beautiful melodies that miraculously came through him in that small window of time.
What’s one misconception people have about being a musician?
Sometimes I get a sense that someone envies my ability to write songs and perform them, as if I’ve got it made and that I get more love from the world than other people. I always wish there was a way for them to experience what it’s like to be me–all the self doubt, the struggle, the difficult process of figuring out how to solve problems with a song. The initial inspiration is great but there is always a difficult editing process of making a complete song (I have dozens of half-finished songs laying around). For me, being a singer-songwriter has been a pretty solitary and often lonely path.
What’s a piece of advice you wish you had received earlier in your career?
I wish I had been able to understand that just because something is difficult, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t continue working at it. Discipline was not a part of my upbringing, and just saying the word still brings up a reaction in me. I’ve had experience with some intense teachers and motivational speakers demanding strict and total dedication and putting everything else aside in order to go after a goal. I found that when I took that approach I would make some initial progress, but then some part of me would rebel and refuse to go further. What has worked better for me is leaning into difficulty, taking a break when I need to, but coming back and leaning in again. Never giving up on something because it’s difficult.
Is there a specific moment in your career that felt like a turning point?
Last October I set an intention to look at whatever was in the way of me giving my all to this dream of being a working singer-songwriter. Up till that point I had one foot in and one foot out. My inner critic was making sure I knew that I was too old, not good enough, saying “why bother trying, it’s not going to work anyway,” and so on. So a lot of my time was spent doing anything but music. I would play video games for a couple of hours a day. Last October I had a powerful experience with breath work, where I got deep into this stuck place in me, and a difficult memory from my childhood came to the surface. I was able to work with these things and a couple of weeks later I started having all this energy to devote to music. It was an incredible gift. Since then, not a day goes by where I don’t spend a minimum of a few hours working on my dream. I’m so grateful for the opening, and I hope it lasts!
Who or what has been inspiring your music lately?
As much as I would like to write love songs or focus on my own personal journey, it’s impossible to ignore the moment we’re living in. A song I’ve been working on lately is about all the conspiracy theories that are all over the Internet and all the brainwashed people who are so sure of themselves. I recently lost my best friend because we got into an argument about politics, and I couldn’t believe some of the things he was saying, how far down the rabbit hole he had gone, and how unwilling he was to consider that he might be wrong.. I still haven’t finished the song and not sure I ever will because it’s not easy to make an engaging relatable song about current events and politics, though someone like Jesse Wells would disagree!